PRECIOUS-Gold treads water ahead of Trump speech, Fed meeting

Reuters Staff

4 Min Read

Jan 31 (Reuters) - Gold marked time early on Wednesday amid
a firm dollar and rising bond yields as markets waited for U.S.
President Donald Trump's annual State of the Union address and
the outcome of the Federal Reserve's two-day meeting.
FUNDAMENTALS
* Spot gold was little changed at $1,337.60 per ounce
at 0114 GMT.
* U.S. gold futures were up 0.2 percent at $1,337.60
per ounce.
* Gold prices have risen 2.8 percent so far this month,
their best month since August, largely due to weakness in the
dollar.
* The dollar remains on track for its biggest monthly
decline since March 2016.
* The U.S. Treasury 10-year note yield touched
its highest in nearly four years overnight at 2.733 percent,
while 30-year bond yield climbed to its highest
since May 2017.
* Traders are cautious ahead of a slate of events this week,
including the Fed monetary policy meeting that ends on Wednesday
and a U.S. jobs report on Friday that will include data on
nonfarm payrolls and average hourly earnings.
* Yields rose after the start of the Fed's two-day meeting
on Tuesday. Markets are bracing for potentially hawkish language
amid signs that U.S. economic growth is picking up steam.
* Investors will also be closely watching Trump's annual
State of the Union speech for comments on the dollar.
* SPDR Gold Trust , the world's largest gold-backed
exchange-traded fund, said its holdings fell 0.14 percent to
845.49 tonnes on Tuesday from 846.67 tonnes on Monday.
* A surge in platinum prices this month has seen the metal
used in autocatalysts break above a downward trendline in place
since early 2013, the first indication of a turnaround in
momentum after years of decline led to stagnation.
* Zimbabwe's gold production is projected to rise to a
record 30 tonnes this year as producers ramp up output, a
chamber of mines official said on Tuesday.
* Swiss gold exports fell last year to their lowest since
the records became public in 2012, while imports slipped to
their weakest since 2014.
* Gold prices in India, the world's second-biggest user of
the precious metal, were at discounts as jewellers were
postponing purchases on the expectation that the government will
announce an import tax cut in its annual budget on Thursday.
DATA AHEAD (GMT)
0100 China Official manufacturing PMI Jan
0100 China Official services PMI Jan
0700 Germany Retail sales Dec
0745 France Producer prices Dec
0900 Germany Unemployment rate Jan
1000 Euro zone Inflation flash Jan
1000 Euro zone Unemployment rate Dec
1315 U.S. ADP national employment Jan
1445 U.S. Chicago PMI Jan
1500 U.S. Pending homes sales Dec
1900 Federal Reserve releases statement after two-day
(Reporting by Nallur Sethuraman in Bengaluru; editing by
Richard Pullin)